FORENSIC AUDIT
UK legal firm to focus on high price paid, large amount of non-plantable land
FELDA Global Venture Holdings Bhd has appointed a legal firm in the United Kingdom to look into possible wrongdoings in the acquisition of Singapore-incorporated Asian Plantations Ltd for RM1.1 billion in 2014.
FELDA Global Venture Holdings Bhd (FGV) has appointed a legal firm in the United Kingdom to undertake a forensic audit on the RM1.1 billion acquisition of Asian Plantations Ltd.
FGV chairman Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid said the audit was looking into the high price paid for Asian Plantations.
It is also focusing on the large amount of non-plantable land and the former owners developing about 700ha that Asian Plantations does not own.
“Since I joined the FGV board in September last year, we decided to appoint experts to investigate the discrepancies,” said Azhar after the FGV shareholders meeting, here, yesterday.
Also present were FGV group president and chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad.
FGV bought the Singapore-incorporated Asian Plantations, which was listed on the UK’s Alternative Investment Market, in 2014.
The £2.20 (RM11.60) per share offer price was 5.4 per cent higher than the weighted average price of Asian Plantations for the one month prior to the offer. This translated into a premium of 294.7 per cent over the net asset value per share of Asian Plantations as at December 2013.
Asian Plantations had 24,622ha of oil palm plantations through its five wholly-owned estates — Incosetia Estate, Grand Performance Estate, Fortune Estate, Kronos Estate and BJ Corp Estate — in Miri and Bintulu.
Previous shareholders of Asian Plantations were Tan Sri Leonard Linggi Jugah, Dennis Nicholas Melka and Graeme Iain Brown.
A year ago, the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) conducted an operation at the FGV headquarters to retrieve documents.
On the progress of MACC’s investigation, Azhar said: “Since then, MACC has not visited FGV. We are not privy to their investigation. We are carrying out our own forensic audit. If the outcome points to criminal elements, we will lodge a police report. As of now, we do not know because the audit is ongoing.”
Azhar also said shareholders had approved the name change of the company to FGV Holdings Bhd.
“We had to withdraw one resolution because there was no seconder on the re-election of a director representing Federal Land Development Authority’s interest in FGV board.”
Meanwhile, FGV announced to Bursa Malaysia that director Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Harun had retired, effective yesterday.